Remember Jesus Christ!

21st Sunday after Pentecost, 10/13/13
2 Timothy 2:8-13


Remember Jesus Christ!
I. Risen from the dead for your daily confidence
II. Faithful to every promise to you


It’s been said that a mother can never forget her child. Those of you who are moms, would you agree? I’m sure you would. No matter what’s happening in your life, you’re always concerned about your children. Even when they’re out of the house and on their own, you don’t stop thinking about them. You don’t stop being concerned about them. That child you carried inside you for 9 months will always be on your heart and in your mind.

I’m fairly certain that’s true even in deplorable mother-child relationships. We hear about those situations almost every day. A mother gets caught in a downward spiral of drug addiction and she neglects her child, but deep down inside her, she never forgets. She is deeply ashamed of the way she has treated her child, but she doesn’t forget her child.

In the opening words of today’s text, Paul tells Timothy, his young pastor-friend, to remember Jesus. Was Timothy in danger of forgetting Jesus? We don’t have any indication that he was. So why would Paul tell Timothy to remember him? Because of the situation Paul was in and the situations Timothy would encounter as he carried on the work that Paul had begun. Paul was in a dark place when he wrote these words. We’ll talk more about that later. Timothy would face dark days as well. And when those days arrived, Paul reminded Timothy to remember Jesus.

He tells us to do the same, because remembering Jesus isn’t simply calling to mind a distant relationship. It’s calling to mind an ever-present power for our daily lives. So remember him. Remember Jesus Christ. Let’s see why Paul encourages us to do that and what it means for us.

Part I.

“I love you.” Do you ever tire of hearing that? Do you ever tire of saying it? Picking up the subject of the mother-child relationship again, what mother doesn’t thrill to hear her little child tell her, “I love you, Mommy”? And in return, mothers tell their children countless times, “I love you.” Likewise, it’s important in a marriage for husband and wife to tell one another, “I love you.” I don’t think I have ever heard of someone complaining, “You tell me you love me too often.” It’s even good for us as fellow Christians to tell each other, “I love you.”

In addition to telling your fellow Christians, “I love you,” we also need to tell each other, “Christ is risen.” On what is undoubtedly the most joyful day of the Christian church year, we do just that. On Easter we tell each other over and over again, “Christ is risen!” And the response that is 2,000 years old is, “He is risen indeed, Alleluia!” It’s the very foundation of our Christian faith that we have a Savior who not only died for us, but also rose from the dead. He lives!

In reality, every one of our Sunday services is a celebration of Christ’s resurrection. That’s one of the reasons that early Christians chose Sunday for their day of worship. It’s the day on which Christ rose from the dead. We continue that practice and celebrate his resurrection every Sunday.

Paul begins this section of his letter to Timothy with this encouragement, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead.” Why would Paul encourage Timothy to do that? Because Paul wrote these words from a very dark place. These are some of the final words that we have from St. Paul. He wrote them while in prison in Rome. This was his second imprisonment and Paul knew that the end of his life was near. Nero was ruling Rome at this point and Paul was certain that a martyr’s death was just around the corner for him. It would have been easy for Paul to raise his fist into the air and shake it in defiance of Jesus. It would have been easy for him to shout, “Some Savior you are, Jesus! I serve you and this is what I get?! What good are you to me now?” But that wasn’t Paul’s position. Instead, he recalled that Jesus had died for him and was raised again. That was the gospel that Paul had shared far and wide for the salvation of many people. The fact that Paul was about to die for the sake of Jesus didn’t negate any of that at all. Jesus was still alive and because of that, Paul could be certain of his eternal future, his eternal life with him.

His resurrection fills us with daily confidence, too. Whether our outward circumstances are filling us with joy or with sorrow at this very moment doesn’t change the fact that Jesus is alive. Our salvation and our eternal life with him are certain and true whether we our day is bright and balmy or dark and gloomy, whether we’re living at ease or in pain, whether we’re enjoying some success in life or another setback. But we tend to forget that. We tend to forget that we have a Savior who is very much alive at this moment and forever.

So remember him. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead for your daily confidence.

So, how confident are you today? Even if your confidence is brimming right now, think about this: everything could change in a split second, even before you arrive at home from church today. Others might be saying, “I’m not so confident right now, Pastor.” You have this nagging health issue that your doctor has been treating for some time now in various ways, with only limited success. You’re beginning to think you’ll have to deal with it the rest of your life. You’re hoping that things will work out for you regarding what you do for a living, but there’s no such thing as absolute job security and even if you’re relatively secure, the irritations that come with any employment situation never go away. And then we worry about our relationships with other people, even the ones we love. How will they work out? And even when we do the right thing, we still end up with trouble. Welcome to Paul’s world! So, does that mean our relationship with Jesus is faulty? Is it worthless? Not at all. Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead. He did not die and rise again to erase all the troubles you will face in this life. He died and rose again to erase your eternal punishment for sin and to make you an heir of eternal life in eternal bliss with him. That is absolutely certain and true. Nothing that happens to you in this life can undo what Jesus has done for you. So live each day in Christian confidence. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.

Part II.

We usually think of promises being made to us for positive things, things that we’re looking forward to: dinner at our favorite restaurant, a dream vacation, the promise to get a much-anticipated project completed. But promises actually work the other way, too. They often come in the form of threats. What parent hasn’t promised their child, “Get your chores done by dinner time or you’ll be grounded”? That’s a promise.

Paul closes our text with a short list of important promises from our Lord Jesus. And remember, promises work both ways. It’s possible that Paul was quoting an ancient hymn when he wrote, “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” Let’s take the threat first. “If we disown him, he will disown us.” That’s no idle threat. I can’t imagine how many souls on the Last Day are going to plead with Jesus, “But I did trust in you for awhile.” He wants us to be absolutely sure of what it takes to enter eternal l life with him. He requires faith in him to the end—until he calls us home. Anything less falls short and he promises that if we disown him, he will disown us.

In order to be faithful until the end, focus your hearts and minds on his faithful promises to you. Those promises were made to us at our baptisms. That’s what Paul is referring to when he writes, “If we died with him, we will also live with him.” In another one of his letters, Paul refers to the truth that our sinful natures were drowned at our baptisms and a new person came to life—the new person who has faith in Jesus. That new person walks hand in hand with Jesus every day here on earth by faith in Jesus. We live with him.

In fact, we live with him eternally. Jesus promises it. “If we endure, we will also reign with him.” Living as a Christian in this world is not a cake walk. It’s tough. At times it’s brutal. We’re assaulted daily by a world which opposes Jesus and everything he ever said. But if we endure, we’ll reign. Notice he doesn’t simply say we’ll survive. He says we’ll reign. We will reign with him in heaven. He has a glorious eternity in mind for us in which all our hopes and dreams and efforts are realized. Jesus promises to lift us out of our sufferings to glory. But many are the times we forget that. We become so troubled and depressed about what we’re facing that we forget what Jesus has promised us.

So don’t forget. Instead, remember Jesus Christ—faithful to every one of his promises to you.

It’s been said that if men had to endure the pain of childbirth, there wouldn’t be any more children born. I won’t speak for the rest of you, but I’ll admit it’s true of me. So why would a woman endure it, even willingly? Because she can’t wait to hold her child in her arms. She can’t wait to experience life with that child she has been carrying. That’s what makes her willing to endure.

Jesus doesn’t ask you to endure through this life with no benefit attached. There are blessings for those who endure by faith in him, blessings that are out of this world and endless. How can you be sure that’s what’s in store for you? Because Jesus once endured suffering—the suffering of hell on the cross. There he paid for all sins of all people of all time. Yours and mine included. And then he rose again to assure us of heaven and our own resurrection from the dead. Those blessings are waiting for you. Countless saints have already endured the sufferings of this life, remained faithful to him, and now are enjoying the heaven Jesus won for them. So will you. Jesus promises it. Remember Jesus Christ as you march each day closer to your eternal life with him. Amen.